Ontario NDP, Liberals make tree-planting election promises

Ontario's New Democrats and Liberals are making Earth Day promises to plant trees if their parties are elected to form government in June.

The NDP says it will establish a "Youth Climate Corps" that will help the party meet its plan to plant one billion trees by 2030.

The Liberals are promising to plant 800 million trees over eight years.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says the paid jobs her party is promising will give young people work experience and a role in fighting the climate crisis.

The party didn't immediately provide exact costs for the jobs program or tree planting, but Horwath said both are part of the NDP's $40 billion climate plan.

Meanwhile, Leader Steven Del Duca says his party's plan would plant 100 million trees every year for eight years.

He says Ontario families would have access to trees for free if they want to plant them at their homes. The Liberal plan would also provide municipalities with trees at no cost to plant in their communities.

The Liberals say their plan will create about 2,000 jobs for graduates and students and help remove pollution from the air in the province.

The party didn't say how much the tree-planting initiative will cost either, but Del Duca has said his party will be releasing a fully costed platform soon.

A spokeswoman for Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford was critical of the Liberals' plan, noting on Twitter that the previous Liberal government fell short of its goal to plant 50 million trees.

"They couldn't plant 50 million in 10 years, but sure let's pretend they can plant 800 million trees in eight," Ivana Yelich wrote.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2022.